Cat's Paw
by IluvLupin
Summary: Loki has escaped from his prison and the Avengers are on the look out for him but what they discover when they find him two years later could put not just the Earth but the entire Universe at risk. At the same time, the people of New York begin to wonder if they should move somewhere else. Sequel to Prelude.
1. Chapter 1

**A big thank you to all of you that are following my story! I didn't like the way this was going so it has been rewritten to make a tighter plot hope you enjoy the change! **

**Disclaimer: Marvel characters owned by Marvel studios and Disney.**

* * *

Nick Fury stood on the bridge of the Helicarrier staring at the night sky. Two years ago Thor had returned from Asgard to inform them that Loki had somehow escaped his imprisonment. They had been on alert waiting for any sign of his return but nothing, not a whisper, not a glimpse. Maybe he's not coming back. Maybe he's found somewhere else, were the whispers among the SHIELD agents, Fury did not buy it. Loki was not going to let his defeat remain unchallenged.

Suddenly alarms began ringing on the bridge. "Sir, we have anomalous readings. It's...it's very faint, sir." One of the crew called out, mildly confused by the readings. This could be what they were waiting for.

"Where are the readings coming from?" demanded Maria Hill coming up beside Fury.

"Um...Paris...narrowing down...It appears the readings are coming from the Palais Garnier opera house." The tech responded.

"Sir, facial recognition hit. Confirm Loki has been spotted at the opera house in Paris." Another tech called out from a computer terminal further down.

"Contact the Avengers and send them the coordinates then contact Asgard and let Thor know we have found Loki." Fury ordered.

"We have visual coming in now sir. Uh, you're going to want to see this..."

* * *

Tony Stark, known to many as Iron Man, arced over the Seine heading towards the opera house. Captain America, Steve Rodgers, Clint "Hawkeye" Barton and Natasha "Black Widow" Romanoff were following behind in a Quinjet. He was interested to find out what the squirrelly demigod was doing in Paris. The building was surrounded by police when Tony arrived. Once he got inside and past the police cordon he could see exactly why the Avengers had been called in, and he could not have been more surprised. The place was a disaster. A tornado would have done less damage. In the centre of the room stood Loki breathing heavily.

Loki rounded on the approaching Avengers "Where is she?!" he yelled, his eyes wide and wild. He grabbed the front Captain America's costumes. "I will rip out your spleen and wear it as a hat if you have hurt her." He hissed.

The other Avengers pulled out their weapons. Iron Man stepped forward "Hey Bag of Cats! What the hell are you talking about?" he grabbed Loki by the shoulder to pull him but Loki instead rounded on him hitting the armour in the face with an intense ball of flame.

"You pitiful little mortals, you think me stupid? We have been unchallenged everywhere we have gone until we came back to this pathetic little backwater realm." He was clearly beyond rational thought right now due to rage.

Before Loki could do more damage to the Avengers he was pulled away. Loki turned to attack the interloper. "Stop this! We are not going to get Reagan back if you go all half cocked against everyone." The other man said. Loki collapsed to the ground, the will to fight leaving him. Hawkeye continued to aim his bow at Loki but others tried to train their weapons on both.

"You are coming with us, both of you." Captain America said slightly confused.

The other man looked up "We'll come quietly. There is much we'll need to talk about."

Iron Man tilted his head quizzically "Sean?" recognizing the other man.

* * *

Once their prisoners were seated in the Quinjet the whole situation got weirder. "Sean Rushkin? Tell me I'm seeing this correctly. Your Sean Rushkin, head of Media RedSand Enterprises!" Tony exclaimed.

"Maybe it's the new thing for billionaire playboys to take on demi-gods." Clint quipped from the pilot's seat.

Sean just looked horribly embarrassed to have been caught. _You so owe me big for this Reagan_. He had made the choice to keep Loki out of trouble with the authorities but with all the bad blood between him and SHIELD it was going to be like tap dancing on quicksand.

The Avengers were still trying to make sense of the situation into which they had stumbled by finding and arresting Loki. Loki fighting the turmoil of emotions Reagan was missing, the Avengers had captured him and his only ally at this time was Sean. He was not sure how much help he was going to be. He had only agreed to this silly night out that Reagan and Sean had planed because his wife had explained it be the height of rudeness to visit Midgard but not visit Sean, who had set up a bit of a court in exile on the mortal world. He had been shocked to see him arrive at the opera house with a lady who was clearly not his wife, especially since back in the Kingdom Sean and his wife were considered the paragon of marriage. _Shows how much you can trust appearances_ , he snorted. _As long as he helps me get Reagan and-_. He shook his head it do dwell on what could go wrong.

Clint radioing the Helicarrier was the only thing to break the heavy silence in the jet "This is Avengers Quinjet approximately thirty minutes out."

The officer on the other end responded almost immediately. "Roger, Quinjet. Thor and Banner will be meeting you when you arrive. Will you be needing any further assistance with the prisoners?" the voice crackled over the radio.

Clint looked back at the two unhappy passengers. "We should be fine but just in case send a few extra guards."

* * *

The Avengers escorted their prisoners into a conference room. "We're not sure yet what if anything they've done," Captain America reminded them. The two men were unsettling quiet.

"Brother!" Thor rushed over to grab his brother on a bone crushing embrace. Loki squirmed frantically to escape Thor's grasp. "I am glad we have found you before you could cause more trouble. We had worried that you had been gravely hurt or killed in the escape but you must return, whatever punishment Father devised you should not have run away. My banishment taught me much, it would have done the same for you. Come home and end this now."

Fury stomped into the room, "Someone tell me what is going on!" yelled Fury.

"Honestly sir, I'm not all that sure myself." Captain Rodgers piped up, rubbing the back of his head. "They haven't said anything relating to the events in Paris. They... haven't spoken one word since we picked them up. We don't know what happened."

"Where is my wife? You must have done something with her. We were enjoying a nice, _quie_t night out when suddenly chaos breaks out and lo and behold who appears, none other but the mighty Avengers. Were you so frightened about facing me that you decided to punish me through her?" Loki ranted.

"What?" Tony uttered flatly.

"You have a wife? How do _you_ have a wife? When did this happen?" Clint asked in confusion.

"Brother is this true?" Thor asked in confusion.

Loki looked a little affronted by the question "I am perfectly capable of attracting a mate." He huffed.

All Clint could think to respond to that was "How?"

"That is not important right now. We were attacked at the opera house." Sean cut in trying to focus the conversation back towards the problem at hand "The attackers seemed to know that we would be there tonight and who exactly to look for."

"Wait I want to go back to the part where Reindeer games has a wife. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that." Tony added to no one in particular.

"What do you mean knew who to look for?" Captain Rogers asked his military mind trying to gather the important information and Loki's marital status was not.

"The opera was attacked by tall, gangly creatures. You know they kinda looked like those creatures that attacked New York." Sean gestured, everyone else in the room tensed up a little at the mention of the Chitauri. "Anyways, they're the ones who grabbed Reagan."

Before anyone could ask the Helicarrier was rock by a large explosion.

* * *

**The Avengers face off against the Helicarrier's attackers and more is revealed about Reagan's kidnapping.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Marvel characters owned by Marvel studios and Disney.**

* * *

Alarms were ringing everywhere as the Avengers pulled themselves up off the floor. Sean was already making his way towards the monitors. "Do you have visuals on the attackers?" he asked, scanning the screens.

Fury was barking out orders into his com "Status report!" He came up behind Sean, "And pull up all visuals on the attackers and send it to conference room A." He gave him a level stare "I really hope you aren't screwing with me."

Sean ignored him and focused on the images appearing on the screen. A couple of hulking humanoid shapes covered in crude symbols lumbered down the halls of the Helicarrier on several screens. He cursed quietly under his breath.

The good captain spoke up "Um... What _are_ they?"

Clint leaned forward to get a better look at the images "Whatever they are they have the worst paint job I have ever seen."

"That's not paint, its blood. Where's your sprinkler control?" Sean was searching around frantically.

Fury raised an eyebrow "Why exactly do you need the sprinklers for?"

The bridge officer reported in "Sir, there are a dozen um... hostiles moving towards the bridge. All attempts to stop them have failed so far." There was a long pause "We could really use the Avengers help." Tony, Thor, Steve, Clint and Natasha rushed out to assist.

Bruce Banner looked nervously at the remaining people "I'm not sure that the other guy would be much help in this situation. Sean gave a small laugh but otherwise ignored him.

"_Again_...What _are_ they?" Bruce asked uncomfortable with the tense atmosphere.

"They are called Constructs. They are magical creations made from scrap. Nigh unstoppable and probably capable of going toe to toe with the Hulk without difficulty. Hopefully the sprinklers will wash away the blood. Without the symbols the Constructs won't function." Sean explained "This is the only thing I can think of to do. I was never really the magically type. Damn I wish Reagan was here." He turned towards Loki "She didn't teach you anything helpful for this situation did she?" he asked hopefully.

Loki shook his head "She never mention anything about fighting Constructs. I'm sure that I have sufficient training to take them on."

Sean taped rapidly on the keys, pulling up the Helicarrier's emergency systems and triggering the sprinkler system unleashing a flood of stagnant, artificial rain on everyone. "OK, that should do it." He looked up at the screens again and swore just as a bridge officer contacted the conference room again.

"Director Fury, the... creatures are splitting up, we have pairs heading towards the engines, the hanger and armoury now. Shit! Sir, we are showing additional attackers! They appear to be Chitauri! They've just appeared out of nowh..." the signal cut out dissolving into static. Fury cursed under his breath and did the quick arithmetic of leaving the two in the room unguarded versus not ending this attack quickly. _Banner will have to be enough._ He thought.

He turned to the wary scientist "Make sure they don't leave the room, I don't care if you have Hulk out to do it. The Helicarrier is being torn apart around us as it is." With that the SHEILD director rushed out to join the fray.

The three remaining men in the conference room looked at each other awkwardly before the floor began to vibrate, heralding the five Constructs stampeding up the hallway just outside the conference room. One skidded to a halt and swung back around, crushing a two foot section of door frame under its grasp. "I suggest we run, if that's alright with you."Loki said.

"...We have pairs heading towards the engines, the hangers and armoury now." Tony peeled off from the rest. He was finding that he did not particularly like fighting in tight spaces in his armour; it gave him no room to manoeuvre. He couldn't fly so he was forced to run through the halls. He came up behind the group that was heading for Engine Number One. A blast from his gauntlet repulsor tore apart the arm of one of the creatures. They spun around readying to attack. Another blast caught one full its torso, splitting it in two. The two halves continued around for a moment before the artificial rain destroyed the symbols powering it. The one armed Construct lashed out, grabbing Tony's helmeted face and slamming him into a wall. He saw stars and his HUD flickered. "Ok, that hurt." The creature was now slowly crushing Tony's helmet and with it his head. He grappled with his attacker's arm trying desperately to pull himself free. He was forced to blast it off with his chest reactor. He collapsed onto the ground as the creature's hand fell away now that the rest of it was cinders. Tony scrambled back up to rejoin the fight.

Clint and Natasha were well ahead of the rest of the Avengers and nearly at the bridge when the sprinklers came on soaking them. It did not even slow the pair down. Meeting up with Maria Hill they organized the defence. The SHEILD agents had just reached the bridge before the first wave of attackers. Guns opened fire biting into the Constructs marching forward. The firearms were having as much of an effect as they had been earlier. The Constructs were unconcerned with the bullet holes riddled in their bodies. "It's still not working!" Natasha yelled over to Clint on the other side of the room.

Clint notched another explosive tipped arrow. It flew through the air embedding itself in chest of one of the creatures. The resulting explosion blow away much of the head and upper torso but the legs and one arm continued to move. _I'm going to run out of explosive tips if this continues. Need to try another tactic_. "We need to come up with a new plan."

Steve was having a hard time maintaining traction in the wet conditions. Smooth floors and water meant that he was limited on how fast he could move. He could see Thor vainly trying to keep his footing too. Thankfully their weapons of choice meant they did not need to move about much in order to hammer at the enemy. The hanger was already being trashed by four large Constructs. The symbols on them were already smeared and running. Steve threw his shield at the closest. It turned around supernaturally fast and pulled the shield from the air. Tossing the shield to the ground it lunged for Steve. Molnjir's impact caused it to stumble and gave the good captain enough time to dodge its blows. The other three took this as their cue to join in. Soon the two were trading blows and trying to avoid the four inch talons that ended each 'finger'. The captain made a dive for his shield laying only feet away. He brought it up in time to stop a lethal strike from above. Thor tore the arm off one and bashed in another with his hammer.

The agents on the bridge were running dangerously low on bullets. Of the six Constructs only two had been disabled. Though none of the agents wanted to say it but they couldn't hold off the rest of them for much longer. Suddenly one of the Constructs exploded from behind. Nick Fury stood behind the attackers carrying the destroyer gun. With the Director to help them now the last of the Constructs were quickly taken care of. "Now let's clear out the rest of the trash."

Bruce followed after Loki as they fled from the pursuers, he was not letting him out of his sight. He was only barely staying in control but he would be more useful as Banner than the other guy. Loki was making a lot of sharp turns to try and throw off the creatures behind them. The animated piles of scrap were not able to corner very well especially with the water pouring down. He was not all too sure where they were going but Loki certainly seemed to and he was content to follow. They eventually ended up looping back around to the conference room. Loki quickly headed over to the monitors to check up on the others. Bruce took a few deep steadying breaths hoping to keep calm. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Two Chitauri stood in the doorway. He positioned himself between the two in the doorway and Loki at the computer. He could just see Loki turn to face their new attackers and bring his hands up in front of him. Before anyone could move everything seemed to go dark and Bruce fell to the ground.

Loki was completely and thoroughly lost. He left the conference room with the purpose of locating Sean in the chaos but he hadn't found him had no idea where anyone else was. A repulsor blast shot past his head. He spun around to see Tony standing behind him. "What was that for?" he shouted. Tony only shrugged in his armour. Loki narrowed his eyes at the clearly childish behavior "We may as well head back to the conference room then." The armoured man lead the way back to the conference room. Turning into the room Loki stopped short at the sight of two Constructs leaning over the prone form of Dr Banner. He felt a twinge of guilt that the good doctor was in this precarious position because he had availed himself of the opportunity to get a modicum of revenge on the beast for their last encounter. He threw a conjured dagger straight into the first attackers. The attacker dropped like a stone to floor or more correctly a pile on inanimate metal. Tony took out the second with a well placed blast

With the battle over everyone had gathered back in the conference room. Bruce had woken up and was now sheepishly sitting in the corner. He thought it was a bit of a blessing that the other guy had avoided making an appearance. Sean looked from Bruce to Loki and pursed his lips. "Ok I'm going to need some explanation from you two. Right now!" Fury ordered. Loki and Sean looked at each.

Loki turned away "Never you mind." He said crossly. Sean gave him another look. Now was not the time to angering potential allies turning them into potential roadblocks.

Fury crossed his arms "This is not a request! My ship has been attacked and these creatures were clearly after you! YOU ARE GOING TO TELL ME WHY!" Loki continued to sulk.

Sean sighed when he noticed the set expression of everyone around. The Avengers were not going to let them go without answers. "They're trying to kill us." This was met with sarcasm.

"I think we are going to need a bit more than that." Fury said. "We can start with who you really are" pointing to Sean "And you are doing here" pointing to Loki.

Thor chimed in "Yes how ever did you escape from your prison brother?"

"Asgard must have terrible security." Was all Loki would say.

"I'm not sure as to why the Chitauri are here controlling the Constructs. Do you know why they'd take her?" Sean asked Loki.

Loki shook his head. Thinking about why the Chitauri would take Reagan was terrifying. He knew how powerful they were but how did they know where they were going to be? How did they know to grab Reagan? "As for what we are doing here, on Midgard, I have already explained we were going to the opera." This was greeted to a round of incredulous looks. "Reagan asked me to show her this little world I was so eager to conquer." He took a deep breath, it was going to be hard. "I failed to conquer Midgard, I will be punished for this failure. I suspect that the Chitauri are here to meet out that punishment."

"The Constructs are usually a creature created by enemies of my people, mainly because they aren't alive they are not susceptible to some of our... abilities. If the Chitauri have been given control of an army of such creatures then there is something larger at foot than simple revenge for failed promises." He pointed a finger aimlessly "I...have an idea on what that could be."

The Avengers looked at each other, it was beginning to look like they were going have to work with Loki.

"Sit down. We have _a lot_ to talk about." Fury said forcefully.

* * *

**The Avengers team up with Loki and Sean and plot their next move.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Marvel characters owned by Marvel studios and Disney.**

**A bit of a shorter chapter but I didn't want anyone fallowing this story to have to wait much longer.  
**

* * *

The cameras had gone some point in the middle of the fight, due either to the water or the creatures. Tony had been 'recruited' by Fury to get the system back up but so far it was proving itself more stubborn than Stark.

Sean examined a piece of Construct scrap "I may be able to trace its origin. I'll need to make some preparations first. Let me just call my people and we can be on our way."

Fury put out a hand out to stop him "Where do you think you're going? We haven't finished yet and I'm not so sure we should trust you."

Loki's jaw clenched "If you want to stop the people who attacked you then you need to work with us. If you chose to lock us up then you will continue to face wave after wave of attackers. Our interest align right now, don't waste this opportunity."

The Avengers did not too particularly happy with this, but finally Sean and Loki were allowed to leave to make the necessary arrangements. "Thank you, I'll let you know the second I have everything set up." Sean said.

* * *

The Avengers waited until the other two were well beyond hearing range to discuss the situation.

"Anyone else think that there is a lot more going on than any of them are saying?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, everything is just a little too convenient for me." Natasha agreed.

"Thor have you ever heard of these people?" Steve asked, turning to the demi-god.

Thor shook his head "I have never heard of this covenant nor of the war they spoke of. Asgard has not much contact with the realms beyond the Yggdrasil. They could yet be speaking the truth."

"Aha!" cried out Tony "Got the cameras back up and running!" The others ignored him.

"I don't like this. There are too many unanswered questions. Loki says that the Chitauri are after him because he failed to conquer but wasn't he in control of the army or wasn't he? How'd they know where they'd be? Why kidnap Loki's wife? God I still can't believe that I said that. I won't have believed it if it wasn't for the fact that Sean seems to back up Loki's assertions." Clint griped, he was not happy at all with the idea of working with Loki, and even less happy with the idea that Loki might not be quite as guilty as they all thought.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was Opera with a side of world domination for those two." Tony added in.

"Please, my friends, do not pass judgment on my brother until we know the truth. The events of late does argue for them telling the truth." Thor interjected.

"I agree with Thor. If we judge them solely based on Loki's past behaviour we may be condemning innocent people. This... Sean Ruskin has been obviously living here for many years now." Steve turned to the SHIELD agents "Has he ever been a threat before?" the three shifted uncomfortably.

"No." Natasha had to admit.

"See?" Steve gestured towards them "We have no reason to mistrust them beyond the fact that Loki was with them when we found them. If we take Loki out of the equation then everything does seem far more reasonable. They were attacked by enemy forces and they are willing to help us to defeat this enemy. They did not need to."

Bruce nodded sheepishly "Ok, I can understand that. I guess the question becomes what do we do? Because I doubt whoever is after them is going to stop after one failed attempt. You heard what they said. They will keep trying until they succeed. So what do we do?" he asked.

After a long silence, "If this friend of Loki's can find where these creatures came from we may be able to hunt them down and destroy them. Where ever these creatures masters are we will find my brother's wife ." Thor calculated.

It did not take too long for Clint to speak up on that one: "So we just take our lead from them? I don't think that safe."

"We have little choice but to work with the two of them despite how much I'd love to throw them _both_ into a jail cell until they tell me what I want to hear." Fury ended the discussion.

Tony piped up just then "Isn't anyone going to congratulate me on fixing the security system? It was really hard."

* * *

**Next chapter I promise there will be a change of scenery as the Avengers head to Sean Ruskin's offices in hopes of tracking down the Chitauri and their mysterious allies. **


End file.
